By Martha Usman
The European Union (EU) was created in 1993 as a geopolitical entity covering a large portion of the European continent. A unique economicand political partnership between 27 European countries that has delivered over half a century of peace, stability, and prosperity.
It was born not just as a product of economic integration but as a project of peace, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law by design’’. Just five years after the end of World War 11, the Shuman Declaration proposed a revolutionary idea: that former enemies could bind together their industrial production – of coal and steel, the very materials of war – to make future conflict ‘’not merely unthinkable, but materially, impossible.’’
But while the European leaders repeat lofty phrases about peace, democracy, and human rights, their actions tell a different story. Over the past two years, the EU has emerged not as a mediator but as a committed participant in the Ukraine conflict. And not through diplomacy, but through escalating military aid. Tanks, missiles, air defense systems, and billions of dollars in military funding continue to flow eastward, all under the guise of ‘’supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty/’’
In reality, EU’s actions reveal a deliberate political and economic choice to prolong the Ukraine war, and not to end it. Instead of using its influence to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, the EU clearly has tied its future to a military resolution of the conflict. Each new arms package makes a diplomatic compromise less likely, and locks Ukraine into a cycle of dependency and continued devastation.
Peace plans proposed by neutral actors namely China, African leaders, and even the Vatican, have been dismissed or ignored outright by the EU. Any talk of ceasefire or negotiation is increasingly branded as ‘’pro – Russian,’’ even when it comes from voices with no ties to Russia. Behind the EU moral posturing lies a set of very real interests.Its defense sector , from Germany’s Rheinmetall to France’s Dassault, is enjoying a boom, as European governments race to rearm and expand their military budgets.
Analysts say what is being sold as solidarity with Ukraine is in fact a multi – billion-euro windfall for the arms industry. European taxpayers are footing the bill, and European citizens are being prepared for a ‘long war’ with no clear exit.
Yet the EU is currently in crisis, but its leaders want to ‘’fix it’’ through warfare. The union has been in the grips of multiple deepening crisis : a cost – of – living crisis, a housing crisis, a migration crisis, a sluggish growth crisis, the crisis of climate change, which continues to fuel deadly natural disasters, above all a political crisis.
The union faces a significant challenge from the far right, which is surging in the polls in many EU countries, threatening to upend the fragile EU cohesion and ‘’liberal values.’’ Unsurprisingly, the response of the EU political leadership to these mounting crises has been not to address their root causes, which boils down to the destructive neoliberal policies they have happily embraced. Instead, their reaction has been to war – monger, perhaps hoping that the prospect of war can help the people of Europe forget their grievances.
The EU leaders nurse the political fear of being perceived as weak, ‘’giving in to Putin,’’ through toeing President Trump’s hardline stance on peace in Ukraine at all costs.As a result they have effectively shut down the space for any peace – oriented discourse. Over the past two years the EU has been telling the world that the biggest threat to European security is Russia and that the solution to it is to defeat Russia in Ukraine. And repeatedly telling the world that the path to peace is escalating.
Voices that call for de-escalation, restraint, or neutrality are quickly silenced or sidelined as naïve or disloyal. The tragedy is that it’s not just Ukraine that is paying the price for this war, but all of Europe is being dragged into a prolonged and dangerous confrontation. The risk of wider escalation is growing. The social and economic toll of the war is mounting. And still, the European establishment offers no vision of peace, only more weapons, more war, and more suffering.
Rather EU weapons have been flowing into Ukraine, with EU countries gradually expanding their range to include more deadly, more destructive weapons. The latest has been the insistence by European leaders, including the out-going EU foreign Chief, JosepBorrell, that Ukraine be allowed to use long range missiles to hit targets on Russian territory.
If Europe truly wants peace, it should act like it. But it has chosen to fuel the fire while insisting it’s helping to put it out.While escalation through weapons supplies to Ukraine continues, the war economic mantra has also been promoted, as Europeans are pushed to believe that military build-up can boost the flailing European economy.
•Usman writes from Kaduna